The Trial
by stealacandy
Summary: Fudge puts Harry on trial. He and Malfoy have planed something along the usual lines of what you could expect in the prologue of or a flashback in a cliched Azkaban!Harry fic. Only Harry doesn't seem to play along, nor to take it quietly. A Post-OotP cour


**The Trial,**

A story by **stealacandy**

**Summary: **Fudge puts Harry on trial. He and Malfoy fhave planed somfething along the usual lines of what you could expect in the prologue of (or a flashback in) a cliched Azkaban!Harry fic. Only Harry doesn't seem to play along, nor to take it quietly.

A Post-OotP courtroom drama.

**Table of Contents:**

Chapter 1: 1st Trial: Can't you say something intelligent for a change?

Chapter 2: 2nd Trial: Miscarriage? Isn't that what witches have after Malfoy beats them?

Chapter 3: 3rd Trial: At tu?

Chapter 4: 4th Trial: And Justice to All

Epilogue: Yet More Trials: Aftermath - I was under the Imperius when I wrote this!

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**The Trial, chapter no. 1**

By **stealacandy**

**Disclaimer:** The law in the muggle world is not as bad as that that of the wizarding one. I'm no lawyer, but I think that means they can't throw me to jail if I clearly state here that I haven't profited from writing this story in any way or form. So here goes: I haven't profited from this story in any way or form. Oh, and Harry Potter and all the mambo-jumbo that comes along with him all belong to the devil... sorry, I meant, JKR, Bloomsbury, Warner-Bros. and whatnot.

And there you have it.

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**1st Trial: Can't you say something intelligent for a change?**

"Harry Potter, you are charged with casting the Cruciatus Curse on Lucius Malfoy, a crime that carries with it a sentence of a lifetime imprisonment in Azkaban Prison. How do you plea?"

"Not guilty, Ma'am, for technical reasons."

"What do you mean?" said Fudge angrily.

"Well, the sentence of imprisonment is only for casting the Unforgivables on an intelligent being, and Lucius Malfoy doesn't count as one." Harry replied.

"What?" Fudge screamed.

"Well, he claims he was held under the Imperius curse for years on back before October 1981 when he committed numerous heinous crimes as a death Eater, that he was under the Imperius curse back in 1992 and 1993 when he opened the Chamber of Secrets, attacking the muggle-born students and attempting to resurrect Lord Voldemort from the dead, that he was under the Imperius curse when, back in 95, barely two minutes after Voldemort was finally resurrected, he answered his call and apparated to his side, and that he was under the Imperius ever since, giving Fudge extremely bad advice that only served to further Lord Voldemort's ends, advice which Fudge was more than glad to take and act upon, and finally, he claims he was under the Imperius curse when I ostensibly cursed him, the night he lead a cabal of Death Eaters to break into the Ministry premises. And all that time, all those long years, he has never - not once! - showed a single sign of all the visible signs that crop up in people who are placed under that curse... I'm sorry, intelligent people. And being. Obviously, Lucius Malfoy is not intelligent, he must have been under the Imperius curse his entire life, he must be under it even now, otherwise he probably wouldn't be able to sit there and watch this, instead frolicking on the floor like an ape."

"He's got you there, Fudge," someone said.

"Why, how dare you!" yelled the Minister.

"Mr. Potter does have a point, Cornelius," said Madam Bones.

"... Not to mention," Harry continued, "He is obviously under the Imperius curse right now, since he claims I cast the Cruciatus curse on him, which I never did. So he MUST be under the Imperius, mustn't he? Otherwise he would be lying to the Wizengamot, and certainly, an upstanding citizen wouldn't do that, would he now? After all, you set free so many upstanding citizens that had numerous witnesses attesting to their numerous crimes donning Death Eater garb, solely on their claim they were under the influence of the Imperius at the time. To think they could have been lying, why, that would mean the Wizengamot and the Ministry of Magic released dozens of extremely dangerous, not to mention deranged, perverted criminals back into the public and let them roam free, actually delivering positions of power within our government and society, and all that based on the flimsiest of lies and without doing anything to verify these claims."

"How dare you accuse Lucius Malfoy of lying!" Fudge was fuming.

"I did not accuse him of lying, Minister," Harry clarified. "I said he was under the Imperius - he admitted that much, hasn't he? Otherwise he wouldn't suggest I cursed him when I never did. Or are you suggesting I am lying to the Wizengamot?"

"But we checked you wand, it showed you cast the curse!" said Fudge.

"Indeed I have, Minister. But not on Lucius Malfoy."

"Who, then?"

"What does it matter, it's not on Lucius Malfoy, it's irrelevant to this trial, you are charging me with cursing Malfoy with an Unforgivable, which I never did nor would amount as a crime if I had. So, unless you wish to amend the charges, I believe I am done here. Ministrer," Harry nodded at Fudge. "Madam," to Amelia Bones, and stood up to leave.

Just then, a note floated the visitor gallery to the courtroom floor and made its way to Minister Fudge.

"Ah!" he said. "Apparently there was a confusion, it seems you cast the Cruciatus curse at Bellatrix Lestrange, not at Lucius Malfoy."

"So?" asked Harry.

"So, you cast am Unforgivable at a sentient person, not one held under the Imperius - she claimed she served You-Know-Who willingly - and so you would be sentenced to life of imprisonment!"

"But you charged me with cursing Malfoy, if you want to charge me with cursing Bellatrix Lestrange then, by all means, put down that my plea was accepted per the technical reasons I described, and charge me with cursing her!"

Fudge put his head in with Dolores Umbrige. They exchanged some words, then motioned to Madam Bones to come over.

"Very well," she said, and took back her seat. "Harry Potter," she announced, turning to look at the accused, "For the charge of casting an Unforgivable curse on Lucius Malfoy, this court finds you not guilty, due to the technical reasons you described, as recorded in the trial minutes. Case dismissed." she hit the counter with her hammer. "In the case of the Ministry of Magic against Potter, Harry James, Harry Potter is accused of casting an Unforgivable curse at - ah - Bellatrix Lestrange. Judges are Cornelius Fudge, Ministry of Magic, Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, and Amelia Bones, Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Presiding over the trial, Amelia Bones. Court Scribe, Percy Weasley. Witness for the accused, Harry Potter, accused chose to represent himself." she finished reading from her parchment. "Harry Potter, you are charged with casting the Cruciatus Curse on Lucius Malfoy, a crime that carries with it a sentence of a lifetime imprisonment in Azkaban Prison. How do you plea?"

"Erm, excuse me, Ma'am, but who accuses me?"

A smile caressed Madam Bones's lips, but disappeared as quick as it came.

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**A/N: **

That's where I got so far. I got the rest of it planned, but I have to work on the transition between this part and the part where Harry speaks his defence in the new trial - in between, we have to have all sorts of other witnesses testifying - again, to the same things they testified in the first trial, which I of course haven't written, else I would have to write them twice, except for Malfoy, who would now have to give a new account of what he claims happened, quite different than the first one.

I haven't figured out yet how to do that.

-mo


End file.
